1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an elastic mounting apparatus for the vibration-decoupled mounting of a housing on an internal combustion engine. The invention includes a clamping element with two spring elements arranged in a functionally serial relationship, such that the clamping element joins the housing and the internal combustion engine to allow relative vibration. The first spring element includes an annular spring member made of elastomeric material and a second spring element formed by at least one disk spring. The clamping element is penetrated by a clamping screw, and the disk spring can be compressed by the clamping screw in such a way that its spring rate, after compression to the intended preload, is substantially zero.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A mounting apparatus is shown in German Publication 41 25 249 A1. This mounting apparatus is provided for joining an intake pipe to an internal combustion engine, where the annular spring member is made of elastomeric material and is arranged in series with a disk spring made of metallic material. The disk spring is preloaded in such a way that its working point, on a spring force/spring travel diagram, lies on the horizontal portion of the substantially S-shaped spring characteristic curve. The working characteristics of the serially disposed spring elements are largely constant, irrespective of ambient temperature. A spring member made of flexible rubber material is provided for damping relatively low-frequency vibrations with large amplitudes, while acoustically troublesome vibrations are isolated by the preloaded disk spring.